Direction-indicator for automobiles.



DJERECTION-INDCATOR FR 'lLT'lTMUBILES.

Speciilcation ci' Letters atent.

Patented duly 29 lltfluil.

l Application filed January fl, i917. serial lilo. 11Min-ll..

To all 'whom t may concern i.' A

Be it known that l, DIRK W. Nummer, a citizen of the United States, residing at 0ostburg, in the county of Sheboygan and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful improvements in DirectionM lndicators for Automobiles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to automobiles and particularly to devices for indicating the direction about to be taken by an automobile.

The general object oi? my invention is to provide a very simple mechanism which may be readily applied 'to all types of automobiles and which will indicate 'to a following' car the direction about to be talten by the car upon which the indicator is mounted,

A further object of the invention the provision ofan indicator Whicln While ola very simple character, will clearly and plainly indicate both during,u the day and the night. just how the car is about to inw-s7 this device beine; connected to the steering mechanism of the automobile so that the operator Will not have to operate the device separately from the steering` wheel but the signal Will automatically shift the steer`- ing` Wheels are shifted. Other object-s will appear in the course ol the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereinigure 1 is a top plan view of the chassis of an automobile with my indicating device applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the automobile with the indicating device thereon; and llig. 3 isa side elevation oi a portion of the steeringv shaft` 10 and the shat't sections 12 and 15. Y l

Referringf to these figures, it Will be seen that l have illustrated in Fig. 1 the chassis of an automobile of the usual type. liny this figure 10` designates the steering shalt or post of' the automobile havingl the usual steering Wheel and beingconnected in any suitable manner to the steeringT knuckle of the forward Wheels. Mounted upon this steering shaft 10 is a sprocket wheel ll find mounted in any suitable manner upon the frame of the automobile is a shaft l2 which entends upward and rearward and carries upon a sprocket wheel 13 which is connected to the sprocket Wheel il by means ol a sprocket chain ll. peratively mounted upon `the frame ot the car in any suitable manner is a rearwardly extending shaft l5 which is connected by a universal joint 16 with the shaft section 12. A. 'flexible shaft is thus provided by the two sections 12 and l5. it its rear end the shaft 15 carries upon it sprocket Wheel 17 operatively mounted upon the rear of the supporting frame or the automobile is a shaft 18 carrying a sprocket Wheel L9. A sprocket chain 21 connects the sprocket Wheels 17 and 19 for unitary rotation., The .shaft 18 at its rear end is provided vvith an angularly directed arm ft2 which carries upon its'rear end a disk 23 or other object which may be illuminated and cli will be plainly obvious to 'the driver a cnr behind and mounted in connection with thi disk an el ectrie light let whereby may be illuminated at night. The i preferably painted white or sonic o color which will render it distinctly observable. Under ordinary circumstances, einen the ear is moving ahead., the erin will l e in a vertical position. but. it the operator shifts 'the steering: wheel to 'turn the car to the right3 the shaft 18 will. rotate to carry the arm 22 to ,the right and iii the operator shifts the steeringn wheel so as to turn the machine to the left, the shall' lli will be rotated to carry the arm 22 to the lett. lt will. be seen that the den-ree oi' turningmovement is clearly illustrated by position oil the arm 22; A

l have not illustrated the electric c0nneo tions to the electric ligrlit as these will be obvious to any one skilled in the art. l do not wish to be limited'to the enact construction oi my indicator as it' is obvious that many minor changes may be made therein Without de' uiting from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claim,

Having described my invention. what l claim is:

The combination with un a cludinoj n steeringn sl 'in ci' a sprocket wheel mounted upon the steering' shaft. a shaft seetion mounted upon the trame oi the antoinebile and extending' upward and rearward and having a sprocket gear Wheel operatively connected to the iirst named sprocket gear :itomoiiiile iulill lili

l g 1,271,06e

wheel, a second named shaft mounted upon the last named gear wheel, and o. signaling the frame of the automobile and extending arm mounted upon the last named shaft. 10

, an@ carrying at its rear end a sprocket wheel, n longitudinali extending shaft mounted at Witnesses:

`rearward therefrom and connected by a uni- Imtestimony whereof I hereunto aix my ye'i'sazl joint to the first named shaft section` l signatnre vi1 the gresence of two witnesses.

IRK W. NEARHOF.

'the rear end o the automobile and havin a RICHARD C. MANDEL, sprocket gear wheel operatively eonne to ELEANOR MAYER. 

